A Matter of Crests
by RinoaDestiny
Summary: "Everyone else uses diamonds, flowers, kanji, circles. Hell, even birds. Why did our clans pick those instead?" Kyo and Iori discuss about their clans' respective crests. (One-shot)


**A Matter of Crests**

Written by: RinoaDestiny

_King of Fighters, Kyo Kusanagi, and Iori Yagami belong to SNK_

* * *

"You ever think about our clans' crests, Yagami?"

"No." The other fighter glanced askance at him and then returned to examining his torn sleeve. Their most recent fight ended in a draw, so Iori was less petulant and snarky than usual. Besides some cuts, scrapes, bruises and minor burns, they were fine. Kyo sat with his back against one of the trees in the field, taking shelter in the shade while Yagami sat under the high noon sun, checking out his small tally of wounds. All in all, it wasn't a bad day. "Why'd you ask? You curious or something, Kyo?"

"You ever think about why they chose the sun and moon?"

The redhead let go of his ruined sleeve and shrugged. "Maybe it was the first thing they saw."

"Our clans aren't that old."

"Old enough. More than six hundred and sixty years past. Maybe they saw the founding of Japan."

"That's…" Kyo frowned, considering the possibility. "They aren't Ainu."

"Didn't say they were. But the clans are ancient. Didn't your old man teach you as much?"

"Studying's not my strong suit."

"Of course not." Iori scoffed across from him. "Why the sun and moon, huh?"

"Everyone else uses diamonds, flowers, _kanji_, circles. Hell, even birds. Why did our clans pick those instead?"

The other man stared upward at the sky – at the wheeling sun overhead – blinked and then stood, striding towards his direction. Kyo watched him and when Iori sat adjacent to him, he relaxed. For a brief moment, there were the sounds of birds chirping, wild grasses whispering in the wind, and the distant clamor of city traffic. Kyo preferred taking their fights outside the city itself, as there were fewer spectators and post-fight, they had time to themselves to recover in peace and quiet. Even Yagami – if he didn't lose outright – liked it this way.

"The Yasakani liked moon-viewing parties."

"Huh?" Kyo stirred, hearing the other man speak. "You mean…"

"Yeah. _Sake_, poetry writing, all that. Back in the day."

"But weren't those full moons?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Your crest is a crescent moon. It's not –"

"Ah." The red-haired fighter peered around the tree trunk at him. "So it is. Looks better than a circle. Could be mistaken for the sun."

"Not ours." Kyo returned Iori's interested gaze. "The Kusanagi crest look like a circle to you?"

Iori snorted. "More like a ring of fire. Why the corona?"

Kyo shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe they thought it looked cool."

"Unless they saw an eclipse."

"You think –"

"My clan saw a crescent moon. Yours saw an eclipse. Those became our crests."

"But why? I mean…everyone else's has a reason behind it. Why a crescent moon for yours? It's waning, Yagami."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Why not a half moon? I get the no full moon nonsense but…"

"Then why the corona, Kyo? If it's an eclipse, then either it's one of the planets or it's the moon itself."

"What?" He'd never considered that before. "You mean a –"

"Solar eclipse, Kyo."

Kyo fell silent for a minute, thinking about the ramifications of that. "If it's the moon, then…oh shit."

"What?"

"If it's the moon making my clan's crest look that way, then…it had to be before our clans…"

"Your clan trusted mine's that much, huh?" There was no bitterness or surprise in the other's voice. "Figures. Your clan was always so trusting. So naïve."

"We didn't expect you to stab us in the back."

"Actually, yours did it to us first."

"We didn't do anything, Yagami."

The redhead shifted his position, folding his legs up to his chest and crossing both arms over his knees. "Really? Who was it who killed the headman's wife that time?"

"Wasn't us."

Both of them lapsed into silence. The feud was long-standing – its origins stemming from centuries past – and it was apparent the Yagami clan still held a grievance for a supposed wrong done to them. Kyo knew a bit of the story but hearing it from his rival cemented its reality. Yet, his clan hadn't harmed the Yasakani before the fallout, so he had no idea who started the entire chain of events that got them to this point. It was ridiculous, come to think of it. They were fighting their ancestors' war – carrying on this grudge – straight into their lives and it didn't even directly affect them.

"Yagami, regardless of who hurt who...want to call it a day?"

"One more match, Kyo."

"Ha. You still have enough to fight me?"

The red-haired man climbed to his feet, shot him a disdainful glance, and fell into stance. "You mentioned the waning moon. I'll show you who's waning."

Kyo grinned and stood. "Bring it. I'll show you how the Kusanagi dominate."

"We're still here."

"Yeah. But I'm kicking your ass."

"No, you're not," Iori said, scowling. "Less talk, Kyo. Fight me."

"Yeah yeah. Don't be impatient, Yagami." He stepped out into the sunlight – beneath the brightness that was his clan's crest – and smiled. "Show me what you've got."

* * *

**Comments**: A little bit of lightheartedness in between my heavier stories. I started thinking about the symbolism of their clans' crests and the boys began dialoguing. If you look at Japanese crests, a lot of them either take after geometric symbols (Mitsubishi in the case of a company), flowers (Oda), _kanji_ (Murakami), circles (Mori) or birds (Akai). The closest the Yagami clan crest is similar to is the Obu clan's crest and I'm not sure if there is an equivalent for the Kusanagi clan. The Kato clan has a circle with a hole in the center, but I'm not sure if that's supposed to be representative of the sun.


End file.
